While most students will be enjoying fall break this weekend, members of the men's tennis team will compete at the ITA Regional Championships in Madison, Wis., with the best players from the Midwest region. The NCAA selected senior Chris Varga and freshman Matt Baccarani to represent Ball State at the regionals.
The tournament will be composed of 64 players, 56 of whom are determined ahead of time by the NCAA. Players are selected for the invite based on the merit of their play during the current season and the 2001 spring season. The remaining eight individuals must earn a spot in the tourney by winning qualifying rounds, which are set to take place on Thursday and Friday.
"It's the most important tournament of the fall," 30-year head coach, Bill Richards said. "This is the one time during the fall that all the teams from the regions meet each other in one tournament. I feel that our team is strong enough this year that we can get people from the main draw into the later rounds."
Richards said the University of Wisconsin will host the tourney because it has one of the best indoor tennis facilities in the nation to its credit. Wisconsin features 12 indoor playing facilities, in addition to several other sports complexes. The tournament sites rotate between Wisconsin and Michigan State University each year.
In addition to Varga and Baccarani, five other Ball State players will make the trip over fall break. Sophomores Matt Laramore, Clint Knable, freshman Paul Newman and senior Kevin Burnett will compete in qualifying rounds of the tournament.
Varga and Bacarrani will represent the Cardinals in doubles play. Burnett and freshman Patrick Thompson comprise a second doubles team and two of the remaining three players will be in the competition as well. Coach Richards will decide which two players he will name to the final team later on after qualifying ends.
According to Coach Richards, there are two main goals he wants the team to accomplish at the tournament. One being to have someone from the tournament advance to the National Indoor Championships in Dallas, Texas. The second goal is for his players to finish with the highest results possible.
"We are all trying to finish ranked as high as we can," Richards said. "We are a pretty young team, but I believe we have some individuals who could do well."
The tournament finals of the singles and doubles rounds will conclude on Tues. Oct. 29, in Madison. Richards said the Cardinals would head home early in the event that no one reaches the latter rounds.332/<-¦'-¦Imen's tennis 10.24.02DNEditorial332SORTJ+â-ä2AUDT
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